Which four characters will NOT appear in the next ‘Star Trek’ movie?

At this point, the “Star Trek” crew has got to be enjoying the way people are going berserk over any tidbit of information that leaks out of the production, because so far, almost nothing solid is known about the film.

We know for sure that Klingons are involved, but only because of the game that Paramount and JJ Abrams played during the MTV Movie Awards.

We know that Benedict Cumberbatch is in the film, but we don’t know who he’s playing, and no matter how many times people insist that he’s the new Khan, until we actually hear that confirmed, I’m not buying it.

Tracing back the story that has popped up everywhere online this evening, it appears that it all began with Roberto Orci during an appearance on “Ask Mr. Kern” this weekend. Little wonder it was a good interview, since Hercules The Strong, one of the co-hosts of the show and an associate and friend from Ain’t It Cool going back many years, has had an ongoing journalistic relationship with Orci since at least the days of “Alias.”

Both Janice Rand and Gary Mitchell are characters I’d like to see show up down the road somewhere, in some form. Rand only appeared in a handful of episodes in the first season of “Star Trek,” and there was a suggestion that she could develop into a love interest for Captain Kirk. The problem is that the show envisioned Kirk as a sort of space-faring Hugh Hefner, and that meant they couldn’t have his ongoing love interest riding around with them. Grace Lee Whitney later played the character in three of the feature films, and she’s one of those minor forgotten characters that fandom resurrected. Mitchell was the guest star in the third episode of the show, which was originally shot as a sort of do-over pilot for the series, and he was a good template for later “Star Trek” villains. I think Cumberbatch might have been a great choice for that role, so I hope whatever he’s playing is going to be even better.

Charlie X was another being with wild mental powers that threatened the safety of the Enterprise, and he also appeared early on in the series, as did Ruk, the last character named by Orci. Ruk was a dangerous android encountered by Kirk and the rest of the crew, and if you look at the sort of thing that each of the characters was known for, it would seem like there’s a pattern. I wonder if Abrams and the writers went looking for an antagonist that was wildly powerful, but that isn’t already wildly well-known.

We’re not getting answers any time soon, so for now, it’s fun to speculate. It could be that we’re in for something no one’s published yet, a character that hasn’t been speculated about, something that’s sort of under the radar, and I’d love it if that were the case. We’ll all find out soon enough.

We also know that Orci and Kurzman are writing it so we know its gonna be a piece of crap, just like the first one.

By: Guy Smiley

06.26.2012 @ 2:34 PM

I have to agree… I finally saw it, on TV a few months back. I didn’t hate it half as much as I thought I would, but I didn’t like it either. Terrible script, lots of ridiculous coincidences, plot holes, not to mention bad science. The lens flares, the brewery, and the ship’s bridge that looks like an Apple store didn’t help either.

I also didn’t like Pine as Kirk. Everyone else was either really good, or at least decent (though Chekov was annoying), but Pine never once convinced me that he was Kirk or that he should’ve been able to rise to captain like that.

Really, I wish they would’ve just rebooted from scratch, no Nimoy-Spock, and done their own thing without having the baggage of the lousy Nero plot or creating an alternate timeline from the original series (and, presumably, altering everything that ever happened on TNG and DS9).

Now add Lindelof as a “writer” to this sequel,and I can’t see how this could possibly be a good movie. Not with those three wankers writing the script.

By: B

06.26.2012 @ 11:46 PM

I was pretty annoyed by Kirk’s ridiculous rise to captain. Was that in the original series? (I’m a TNG guy. I think I remember hearing Kirk was the youngest captain in Star Fleet, but I was picturing him being 35 instead of 45, not a brand new cadet who was promoted 5 ranks at once. I was also annoyed by the plotholes, bad science, and JJ Abrams’s obsession with big red balls).
Still, I thought it was a lot of fun.

By: Popcorn Dave

07.03.2012 @ 12:15 PM

B: We never saw how he became Captain in the original series, but in the episode “Shore Leave” we learn that Kirk was a crazy hard worker in his Academy days. He’s always been portrayed as a bit of a prodigy, but nothing as ludicrous as what we saw in Abrams’ film.

By: potty break

06.26.2012 @ 1:27 PM

The dude that plays Scotty sez it’s not Khan. So either he’s spreading Miss Information or it’s not Khan.

By: KlarkKent

06.26.2012 @ 2:10 PM

It’s Trelaine, ain’t it?

By: Guy Smiley

06.26.2012 @ 2:17 PM

No denial of Khan, and no denial of Khan way back when a crapload of reliable sources, including trekmovie.com, all went ahead and said “Yep, it’s Khan.” Why didn’t Abrams, and his “writers” (I use that term loosely when it comes to Orci, Kurtzman, and Lindelof) deny it at that time, or any time since?

Simon Pegg, in his recent comments, never once said “Khan’s not in the movie.” Hell, he never even said “Cumberbatch isn’t playing Khan.” All he ever said was that Khan’s not the villain. BIG difference there. In this rebooted universe, Khan’s either not a villain or at least not THE villain of the piece.

I definitely think it’s Khan, and this latest “Four names not in the movie” thing just reinforces that.

By: Guy Smiley

06.26.2012 @ 2:40 PM

Sorry, Drew… Why bring back ANY of these characters? Heaven forbid these guys come up with some ORIGINAL ideas (insofar as rebooting an almost 50-year old property, that is). Watching these hacks play “spot the changes” with the same characters just isn’t interesting to me.

By: Mark

06.26.2012 @ 3:40 PM

This Trek reboot is disastrous (except financially, although the overseas numbers on the 2009 film must have been slightly worrying to Paramount) – it pains me to see some genre fans go gaga over such a blatant cash-in.

If Abrams, Orci, Kurtzman and Lindelof truly cared about Star Trek and deepenign the mythos they would have come up with their own, brand new set of characters to form a new Enterprise crew. Sadly, and this is representative of their entire ouevre, they just took iconic elements and refashioned (dumbed-down) them to suit a ‘modern’ audience.

Their work represents everything that is soulless and derivative of the current Hollywood production slates – reboots, remakes, reimaginings – nothing fresh, original or creative. Mission Impossible, Star Trek, Transformers, Zorro, Super 8 – they’ve all been done a thousand times before, and better.

Stanley Kubrick once said: “Everything has already been done. our job is simply to do it better.” Abrams and co, sadly, are incapable of this.

By: Anonymous

06.26.2012 @ 11:53 PM

Star Trek has never been a hot property outside of North America, so I doubt Paramount was expecting amazing numbers overseas. Hoping for, sure, but I doubt they were all that concerned.

By: That Werewolf Guy

06.26.2012 @ 4:06 PM

Nerds. Give them a few years and what they loved a while ago, is sudenly the worst thing ever.

By: HitFix User

06.26.2012 @ 4:36 PM

You sir are so on point with this comment!

By: kadoogan

06.26.2012 @ 7:49 PM

Comments like these are wht Hitfix needs a “Rec” or “Like” function similar to Bad Ass Digest.

By: KlarkKent

06.26.2012 @ 8:26 PM

Sometimes it feels that way. I had a great time with the new Trek film. And Nimoy’s presence elevated it to something better than expected.

By: BigAl6ft6

06.27.2012 @ 3:49 AM

If yer interested in Orci’s take on Gary Mitchel, check out the first two issues of the IDW ongoing “Star Trek” comic he’s overseeing (Orci swears up and down it’s considered canon & he’s working on the videogame too). It’s basically the same deal but even more menacing.

By: Popcorn Dave

07.03.2012 @ 12:35 PM

We know Klingons are in it, right? And it’s surprisingly easy to picture Cumberbatch in Klingon makeup. He’s a funny looking fella, that guy.